In January, significantly fewer new cars were sold in Europe, largely as a result of the lockdowns in many countries. Trade association ACEA reports a sales decline of 24 percent compared to a year earlier, to a total of 726,491 cars.
That is the lowest sales ever recorded for a month of January, according to ACEA. However, the organization also points to a calendar effect, as January 2020 had one more working day than this year. Sales decreased in almost all EU countries. Of the major European car markets, Spain performed the worst, with a minus of more than 51 percent. In Germany sales plummeted by more than 30 percent and in Italy it contracted by 14 percent. France limited the damage to a minus of almost 6 percent.
In the Netherlands, sales of new passenger cars fell by 20 percent last month to 35,193 cars. 20.04 percent less than the same month last year. So dropped just a bit less than average, but still a lot. Earlier this month, Bovag and RAI Vereniging indicated that they are counting on economic recovery, which means that 2021 can be closed with the registration of 400,000 new cars in the Netherlands.